FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JACKIE PRESSER - PAGE 3

Leaders of the beleaguered International Typographical Union on Thursday agreed to a plan to merge with the Communications Workers of America. The agreement, which is subject to a referendum this fall of both unions` members, apparently is a victory for AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland. He has been involved in a vigorous battle with the Teamsters Union over the fate of the ITU. The ITU, the nation's oldest union, was founded in 1850 and has been hurt badly by automation and computerizaton in the printing industry.

Teamster union president Jackie Presser was subpoenaed late Thursday as a defense witness in the trial of five reputed mob bosses charged with conspiracy to steal $2 million from a Las Vegas casino. Joseph Di Natale, an attorney for alleged Chicago mob underboss John Cerone, a defendant in the trial, said the subpoena calls for Presser to appear Monday in Kansas City. Di Natale said Presser is being called to refute testimony by Cleveland Mafia boss Angelo Lonardo. According to Lonardo, Chicago mobsters were asked by the Cleveland mob to support Presser for the presidency of the labor union in the late 1970s.

The AFL-CIO's executive council voted unanimously on Saturday to readmit the problem-plagued Teamsters Union to the labor federation, 30 years after expelling it as an outlaw union. The council's action on a request by Teamsters President Jackie Presser to rejoin the "house of labor" comes at a time when both he and his union, the nation's largest, are being besieged by the government. Barbara Hutchinson, an AFL-CIO vice president and member of the council, said its vote shortly before 1 p.m. was unanimous in favor of bringing the Teamsters back into the fold.

Despite receiving a lifetime prison sentence plus another 103-year sentence for his convictions as a narcotics kingpin, former Cleveland Mafia boss Angelo Lonardo said Monday he expects to be a free man because of his testimony against his one-time underworld colleagues. Lonardo, 74, who the FBI says is the highest ranking underworld chief to become a government witness, told a jury in federal District Court here that his deal also includes new identities for himself, his wife, and a son. "I expect to be back out in the street by my testifying," Lonardo said.

Rev. David Boileau was quite direct when asked what in the world he was doing at the national convention of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "I consider it my witness to be with this group at this time," said the priest, who teaches ethics at Loyola University of the South in New Orleans. Yet there was a telling reticence displayed by Father Boileau, who has been hired by Teamsters President Jackie Presser to run a new "human services" department for the giant union.

A former inspector general of the Labor Department, citing what he called a longtime rivalry between federal law-enforcement agencies, accused the FBI on Friday of seeking to undermine the department's investigation of Teamsters President Jackie Presser. Testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Robert Magee said the FBI action was aimed at blocking any indictment of Presser on charges of carrying "ghost" employees on his union payroll. Magee, who has since retired from the Labor Department, said: "These events, when presented to me and considered by me in their entirety, left me no conclusion other than the FBI intentionally, seriously attempted to disrupt the Labor Department's investigation to prevent the indictment of Jackie Presser."

Convicted former Teamsters President Roy Williams, appearing agitated, testified Monday in U.S. District Court that he did the bidding of the late Kansas City crime boss Nick Civella because he feared for his life. The testimony was a turnabout for Williams, 70, who had told the jury last week that he was a good friend of Civella's, who gave him $1,500 in monthly payoffs from money skimmed from the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas over a 7-year period. The money was Williams` share for helping obtain a $62.7 million loan from the Teamsters pension fund for San Diego businessman Allen Glick.

A Teamster official who plans a long-shot election challenge to incumbent union president Jackie Presser said Sunday that "there must be some truth" to charges that Presser has ties to organized crime. C. Sam Theodus, president of a large Teamster local in Presser's hometown of Cleveland, supported government claims as he criticized the just-indicted Presser for cementing a negative image of the 1.6-million member union. The union opens its convention, held once every five years, here Monday.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese marked his first six months in office Sunday with a spirited defense of his record, saying critics of the administration's civil rights policies "are way out of step" with most Americans. The Justice Department chief rejected charges by his critics, particularly in the area of civil rights, during an interview on ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley." "I would consider myself in the forefront of the civil rights movement in the country today," Meese declared.

Leaders of the Communications Workers of America on Wednesday approved ongoing moves to merge with the International Typographical Union, the nation's oldest union. Meeting in Chicago, the executive board of the 620,000-member CWA was given details of recently announced talks with the ITU, which has failed in seeking a merger partner for several years. The board voted support of negotiations that could complete a tentative agreement by next week, according to CWA President Morton Bahr.